Cp. E. Of Capitol, May 23, 1863.
We have no intimation
yet of our probable destination — I am getting daily more and more indifferent
about it. The officers whom I see from the Army of the Potomac give such
discouraging accounts of its discipline and morale, of the bickerings
and jealousies among the general officers, and of the general wrongness of
things, that I hesitate about taking steps to get ordered there.1
You may rely upon
it, Harry, that Lee will not remain idle if we do; he will send a
column into Maryland again when the crops are ready: I look for a repetition of
what occurred last summer. Do not think I am demoralized, not a bit of it: but
I am a little disappointed, and am contented not to look ahead very much, but
to remain quietly here drilling. The companies here are doing well, —
the horses and men learn faster than I expected, — I put them at battalion
drill yesterday.
_______________
1 This was during the lull following the defeat
of Hooker at Chancellorsville, and while Lee was planning the invasion of the
North which was checked at Gettysburg.
SOURCE: Edward Waldo Emerson, Life and Letters of
Charles Russell Lowell, p. 243-4, 418
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